that's why president obama organized the meeting with vice president biden, speaker boehner, nancy pelosi and senators reid and mcconnell. he urged them to extend jobless benefits. we can deal with cuts to defense and domestic programs later. but let's take care of the middle and working class right now. give them assurance right now. joining me is congressman chief ellison. he's co-chair of the progressive caucus and melissa harris perry, host of the melissa harris perry show here on msnbc. thank you both for coming on the show. >> thank you, al. >> congressman, let me go to you first, this deal comes down to taxing the rich. how can they not realize this is what the country wants? >> i don't think that the republican leadership cares what the country wants. i think they care about what their biggest donors want and their big donors want to reorganize america so that -- because they believe that the rich don't have enough money and the poor have too much. so what we're hearing here is an expression of an et you logical idea that we need american society to be cost competitive with places